Happy Birthday My Sweet Boy!

It feels like just yesterday that I was rockin' my New Years Eve at Timpanogas Hospital with a new born baby boy in my arms. Words can't explain the love I felt in my heart that night and it has only continued to grow. I can't believe Gavin turned 4 today. He's growing up way too fast! I don't know how we got so lucky to have Gavin in our lives. I can't fathom life with out him. It really feels like he's always been here. Gavin has the biggest heart I've ever seen. He is still willing to give me cuddles and kisses. He'll walk up the stairs, smiles at me and says "I love you mom!" Nothing makes me happier. I'm sure I'll cry when that stops. He cares so much about other people. There's nothing he loves more than to be surrounded by family. And he always misses them like crazy when they leave. I have a ritual of going in his room after he's fallen asleep at night and giving him a kiss on his warm rosy cheeks. I've stood in his room many nights thanking God for sending us such a precious spirit. I feel so blessed and hope I can be the mother he deserves. We love you so much Gavin and are very proud of what a good, big boy you are!

My side of the family spent Christmas at our house this year. With Mom and Dad gone our house has become the Shumway Hotel. Except we’re not charging a nightly rate (hey there’s an idea). Even though things get a little crazy with so many people in the house I am so grateful to have such a close family. I love that we are able to get together so often. Although sometimes we seem to revert to are childhoods and start fighting like little children, we always seem to work it out. We’ve had so much fun together and I wouldn’t trade my family for the world.

The Quinn family has a tradition of unwrapping one gift every hour. So we decided to give it a try this year. I think it worked out really well. Especially for the kids because they were able to enjoy each toy as they opened it instead of just jumping into the next gift. However we were still opening presents till 8:00 at night.

Gavin has loved having his cousins around. The first thing he says when he gets up every morning is, “I’m going to see if Keely’s awake.” Today she wasn’t here when we got up because they had gone to meet some friends for breakfast. He was very disappointed. Then tonight they had to go meet another set of friends for dinner and neither of them could stand another separation, so Keely stayed here to get in a little more playing before bedtime. They are truly best friends and I hope they remain close as they grow.

We have loved having everyone here and will be sad to see everyone go. Hopefully we can all get together again soon.

P.S. Sorry mom and dad! We didn’t get many Christmas pictures because Lisa lost my camera right before Christmas and really slacked with her picture taking. We’ll try to get some more pics of everybody before they all leave.

Sledding With The Fam

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE! 12/14

You are and wonderful husband and an amazing daddy. We are so lucky to have you in our lives. Here's to another great year! We love you!

XOXO,
Arah & Gavin

Why does this happen?

Somebody help me! I don't know why this keeps happening. Look at my post below. Every time I make a post with more than one paragraph it just automatically blends everything together. So I had to make my second paragraph a bullet point. Am I doing something wrong?

Once There Was A Snowman

It snowed on Saturday and Gavin was so excited to build a snowman. Gavin and his daddy bundled up first thing in the morning and got started. It hadn't snowed much yet so they had to work pretty hard to gather all the snow. They had to improvise on his eyes, nose and mouth. They used grapefruit for the eyes, a potato for his nose, and kisses for his mouth. He never did get any arms. But Gavin was really proud of his snowman. I had been gone all day, so I was really excited to come home and see their masterpiece. But when I got home it was devastating, the poor snowman had died. I think it just snowed so much that he could stand the extra weight and just gave up. Gavin said that he's just sleeping. I guess he's a glass half full kind of kid. We promised we would fix him Monday. But I'm kind of hoping he doesn't remember, Brrrr!

• P.S. I have to tell a totally unrelated, embarrassing story. Yesterday at church of all places I walked into the Men's bathroom. I don't know what happened. I guess I was just off in my own little world for a minute. There were 2 teenage boys and 2 little boys inside. It took me a minute to even realize what I'd done. And by the time I walked out of the Men's bathroom the teenagers were laughing uncontrollably. Needless to say I was bright red. But i'm sure they were nice enough to keep it to them selves, right?

Christmas Party Fun!

Last night was Gavin's Christmas party at Kids Village. We had lots of fun! He got to eat yummy treats, make snowman soup, and best of all sit on Santa's lap. They also had all the kids give a little Christmas performance. Its was really cute! You can tell the girl next to him is really into it. We're so happy to have found this school. Gavin loves it and is learning so much. When we left the party they gave us a little book with him and his classmates talking about their favorite food. Here's Gavin's:

PIZZA

1. Who makes it for you? My mom and dad
2. What's in it? Macaroni and Cheese
3. How do you make it? With macaroni. And some Cheese.
4. How long does it take to make? Like 45 minutes.
5. How long do you cook it for? 5 minutes.
6. How hot is the oven? This hot (Holds up 5 fingers)
7. When do you eat it? In 45 minutes

Toilet Seat Up or Down?

I haven't been that hard on Gavin YET about putting the toilet seat down when he's done going potty. But I've decided it's time because this is the lecture he gave me today."Mom you need to make sure that you put the toilet seat up when you are done going potty, so that I don't have to lift it up every time. Sometimes I forget and pee on the seat."